Mega Heracross
Ability: Skill Link
Roles: Knock Off user, Knock Off absorber, physical wall, heavy hitter, wallbreaker, setup sweeper, Mega.
Assessment:
Heracross's Mega Evolution drew quite a lot of criticism. Just when everyone was eagerly anticipating an even stronger version of this fighter named after a god of war, it went and stuffed itself. Getting fat had its advantages, with substantial increases to Attack and bulk, but the drop in Speed alone was enough to put off many players who had wanted to use it.
It was not quite as tragic as a certain Tapu, but for an attacker, losing Speed around a crucial benchmark was never good. Mega Heracross's base 185 Attack was quite eye-catching, giving it excellent wallbreaking power and the ability to muscle through unfavorable type matchups. Its coverage was also considerably better than a certain paper sword's, making it easy for Mega Heracross to brute-force defensive cores and tear through teams when it had a Speed advantage-when it had a Speed advantage. These days, base 75 barely qualified as middling Speed. In an increasingly fast metagame, even a seemingly defensive Heatran could move first and blast it in the face. On top of that, Mega Heracross's item slot was locked, so it could not use a Choice Scarf. Although it had not yet been released, I was not particularly optimistic about its usage in OU, even on Sticky Web or Healing Wish teams.
Fortunately, Mega Evolution generally added 100 points to a Pokémon's base stat total. With none wasted on Special Attack, Heracross received very respectable boosts to both defenses, and even ordinary super-effective STAB attacks would not necessarily knock it out. Take the previously mentioned intimate relationship between Mega Heracross and Heatran: if Heatran invested in Speed and bulk without boosting its offenses, its user